Fourth-Gen Ram Bagged in The Nick of Time

A fourth GEN ram that meets its final form

While fighting for our lives in the mud at Mother Road Mayhem, we found some respite by running off to shoot Nick Hotz’s latest stage of his Dodge Ram 2500 around Joplin, Missouri. Nick recently bagged his truck with a custom kit he threw together—with the help of his father, Willie, naturally. The two managed to pull off an incredibly good looking and performing truck, with literally hours to spare before meeting up with us at Mother Road Mayhem.

True to the reality we all know and love when it comes to building these trucks, parts got delayed as the event got closer. The last batch of parts Nick was expecting for everything steering related got delayed, and he ended up receiving them the day before they planned on leaving for Mother Road Mayhem. You can safely assume they put their heads down and busted some serious ass to get this rig ready (otherwise this article wouldn’t exist). Instead of whining and tagging companies on social media complaining about the situation, Nick and his dad managed to powder and install everything just a couple hours before leaving.

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They got the custom airbag suspension installed, running, and dialed enough to play with for the weekend. The kit is complete with a four-link setup made up of Flight Fab front arms and rear trac bars—it’s sick! It uses switches to control each individual bag, allowing for complete and accurate control at the literal flip of a switch. A bit different from those running Air Lift or Accuair systems with remotes and presets, this setup is not for the weak. While Nick and Willie say they took no shortcuts to get it right, we believe a bit of dark magic was involved, but that’s for Nick to clear the air at a future date.

If you have seen this truck before and thought it was killer, you need to go give it another look because this iteration is fantastic. Nick has successfully built an absolute beauty—with zero shortcuts made anywhere. The interior oozes style with the cowhide on the roof, the color-matched console, and hidden dual sub enclosure made by SubThump behind the rear bench. This Longhorn Edition has been given an uplift that makes it totally unique.

The bed has a full speaker setup hidden under the tri-fold bed cover, and even the tailgate has been modded in a way that we at Diesel World haven’t seen before. How, you ask? Nick had Hurricane Fabrication make him a custom tailgate storage space that houses all his detailing chemicals and microfibers, ensuring Nick can always keep the truck perfectly clean without compromising space inside or having to hear the products flop about in the cabin like the rest of us.

The rest of the exterior was not forgotten either! 26×14 Liberty Forged LBTY11 wheels sit wrapped in Fury Hunter M/T 35s, and a Cutting Edge Offroad grille with lights and AlphaRex Nova headlights can be found up front. Morimoto XB LED taillights and third brake light, an epic hand-engraved bullet antenna replacement from Artisan Engraving, an AmeriHood fiberglass hood, AMP steps, and a HornBlasters Goliath mount setup were also added to the list just to name a few more mods.

You think Nick went through all this trouble just to leave the drivetrain untouched? Think again. The list of modifications is so extensive you’ll have to check the full list at the end of the article, but some of what you’ll find under the hood is a Wehrli Fab s472 turbo, a D&J Precision billet valve cover, S&S 100% injectors and 12mm CP3, a fire ringed head, a Pusher intake manifold elbow, a Far From Stock radiator cover, and a 68RFE built by H&H Diesel. The transmission is also filled with goodies, such as a billet flexplate with ARP fasteners, a triple disc converter, billet input shaft, GPZ clutches, and a billet deep pan. This truck parties hard and still cleans up early for brunch with grandma the next morning.

Nick shared with us that building a truck like this will require late nights and hard work. It will take time to make the vision in your head come together with every little detail. Sometimes, things like part delays are out of your hands, but it’s up to you on how to conquer the speed bumps along the way. Nothing worth having comes easy. Nick told us he plans to eventually swap in a different bed cover, but for now he will be enjoying the truck at a handful of shows, especially Lifted Truck Nationals (one of our favorites) in Jay, Oklahoma, later this summer!